This report contains statistics for 236 religious bodies or groups, providing information on the number of their congregations within each state and county of the United States. Where available, it also includes actual membership figures (as defined by the religious body), total adherents, and average attendance.

The Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) conducted this research. The permanent members of the Religious Congregations & Membership Study Operations Committee, as well as the president and secretary-treasurer of ASARB, served as authors of this book. Clifford Grammich, Glenmary Research Center (Catholic), served as chairman of the Operations Committee. Richard Houseal, Church of the Nazarene, served as Operations Committee Liaison. Richie Stanley, Southern Baptist Convention, served as president of ASARB during this study, and Dale E. Jones, Church of the Nazarene, served as secretarytreasurer. Other members of the committee were Kirk Hadaway, Episcopal Church, Alexei Krindatch, Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, and Richard H. Taylor, United Church of Christ.

Several persons provided special assistance in gathering data for this report. Jonathan Ament and Steven M. Cohen at Synagogue 3000 provided data on Jewish synagogues, members, adherents, and attendance. Alexei Krindatch collected data for Orthodox Christian Churches. Scott Thumma of Hartford Theological Seminary provided data on independent churches. Joseph Donnermeyer of The Ohio State University compiled data on Amish settlements, and Cory Anderson compiled data on Amish-Mennonite communities. Richard H. Taylor helped collect and compile data for several groups. Ihsan Bagby of the University of Kentucky once again provided data on Muslim congregations, adherents, and attendance. J. Gordon Melton of Baylor University collected data on congregations and adherents for 215 different Buddhist religious bodies in the United States, providing the most comprehensive-ever enumeration of these populations. Similarly, Constance Jones of the California Institute of Integral Studies collected data on congregations and adherents for 127 different Hindu bodies in the United States, providing the most comprehensive-ever enumeration of these populations. June Pasco of the Institute for the Study of American Religion helped contact non-responsive groups in the later stages of this research. Darrin J. Rodgers of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center helped to contact a number of Pentecostal groups.

Thanks also go to Roger Finke, Chris Bader, and the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) for providing reports and maps of this data on their website, theARDA.com, in addition to those available at USReligionCensus.org.

We hope that this report, despite its limitations, will stimulate ecumenical awareness at the judicatory and county levels, aid in denominational planning, and contribute to the study of long-range religious trends in the United States of America.

This publication presents data reported for the 236 religious bodies that participated in a study sponsored by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). Participants included 217 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints, Messianic Jews, and Unitarian/Universalist groups); counts of Jain, Shinto, Sikh, Tao, and National Spiritualist Association congregations, and counts of congregations and individuals for BahÃ¡'Ã­, three Buddhist groupings, four Hindu groupings, four Jewish groupings, Muslims, and Zoroastrians.

The sponsors invited all religious bodies that could be identified as having congregations in the United States to participate. We also made several special efforts to identify and include data from several religious bodies which have not traditionally participated or been underrepresented in similar past studies. The 236 groups for which we report data have 344,894 congregations and 150,686,156 adherents.1

The present study is related to five previous studies.2The first reported 1952 statistics and was sponsored and published by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. in a series of bulletins between 1956 and 1958. The second reported 1971 statistics and was sponsored by the Office of Research, Evaluation and Planning of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the Department of Research and Statistics of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the Glenmary Research Center. It was published in 1974 by the Glenmary Research Center. The third reported 1980 statistics and was sponsored by the Department of Records and Research of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Research Services Department of the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Office of Research, Evaluation and Planning of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., and the Glenmary Research Center. The fourth reported 1990 statistics and was sponsored by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB).

1For purposes of this study, adherents were defined as all members, including full members, their children and the estimated number of other regular participants who are not considered as communicant, confirmed or full members; for example, the ' baptized, ' not confirmed, ' those not eligible for communion, and the like. See Defining Membership, below.

2Lauris B. Whitman and Glen W. Trimble, 1956-1958, Churches and Church Membership in the United States: An Enumeration and Analysis by Counties, States, and Regions (80 bulletins), New York, New York: National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.; Douglas Johnson, Paul R. Picard and Bernard Quinn, 1974, Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1971: An Enumeration by
Region, State, and County, Washington, D.C.: Glenmary Research Center; Bernard Quinn, Herman Anderson, Martin Bradley, Paul Goetting and Peggy Shriver, 1982, Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1980: An Enumeration by Region, State, and County Based on Data Reported by 111 Religious Bodies, Atlanta: Glenmary Research Center; Martin B. Bradley, Norman M. Green, Jr., Dale E. Jones, Mac Lynn and Lou McNeil, 1992, Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990: An Enumeration by Region, State and County Based on Data Reported for 133 Church Groupings, Atlanta: Glenmary Research Center; and Dale E. Jones, Sherri Doty, Clifford Grammich, James E. Horsch, Richard Houseal, Mac Lynn, John P. Marcum, Kenneth M. Sanchagrin, and Richard H. Taylor, Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States 2000: An Enumeration by Region, State and County Based on Data Reported for 149 Religious Bodies, Nashville, Tenn.: Glenmary Research Center.

The 19 religious groupings with at least one million adherents account for 89.4 percent of the reported adherents. The 42 groupings with 100,000 to 999,999 adherents account for an additional 9.4 percent. The 91 other groupings reporting adherents account for 1.2 percent. Congregations but not adherents are reported for an additional 84 groupings.

The following groups are included in this 2010 study. The number of counties in which the groups report congregations or adherents will provide a general idea of their geographic extension. (At the time of the study, there were 3,143 counties or county-equivalents in the United States.)

Groups with 1,000,000

Counties with or More Adherents a Presence

African Methodist Episcopal Church

1,044

American Baptist Churches in the USA

1,051

Assemblies of God

2,563

Catholic Church

2,960

Christian Churches and Churches of Christ

1,580

Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)

1,598

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1,873

Churches of Christ

2,427

Episcopal Church

2,049

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

1,739

Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

1,804

Muslim Estimate

592

National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

722

Non-denominational Christian Churches

2,665

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

2,358

Seventh-day Adventist Church

1,827

Southern Baptist Convention

2,702

United Church of Christ

1,168

United Methodist Church

2,991

Groups with 100,000 to 999,999 Adherents

Counties with a Presence

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

442

American Baptist Association

497

Amish Groups, undifferentiated

363

BahÃ¡'Ã­

2,532

Christian and Missionary Alliance

696

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1,278

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

516

Christian Reformed Church in North America

248

Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)

929

Church of God in Christ

777

Church of the Brethren

397

Church of the Nazarene

1,766

Community of Christ

548

Conservative Judaism

252

Converge Worldwide/Baptist General Conference

418

Evangelical Covenant Church

343

Evangelical Free Church of America

752

Evangelical Presbyterian Church

211

Foursquare Gospel, International Church of the

621

Free Methodist Church of North America

473

Free Will Baptists, National Association of

698

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

361

Indian-American Hindu Temple Associations

173

International Pentecostal Holiness Church

657

Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ

430

Mahayana Buddhism

415

Mennonite Church USA

347

National Baptist Convention of America, Inc

219

National Missionary Baptist Convention, Inc

559

Orthodox Judaism

233

Pentecostal Church of God

555

Presbyterian Church in America

715

Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc

145

Reform Judaism

484

Reformed Church in America

228

Salvation Army

799

Theravada Buddhism

193

Traditional Hindu Temples

153

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

610

Vineyard USA

351

Wesleyan Church

736

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

546

Groups with Less Than 100,000 Adherents

Counties with a Presence

Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America

2

Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection

58

Amana Church Society

1

Ambassadors Amish-Mennonite

6

American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese

57

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

199

Apostolic Christian Church of America, Inc

76

Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland, OR

44

Armenian Apostolic Church of America (Catholicosate of Cilicia)

30

Armenian Church of North America (Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin)

72

Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

133

Beachy Amish-Mennonite Churches

74

Berea Amish-Mennonite

10

Bible Fellowship Church

32

Brethren Church (Ashland, Ohio)

63

Bruderhof Communities, Inc

9

Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and

Australia

19

Central Yearly Meeting of Friends

7

Church of God General Conference

63

Church of God in Christ, Mennonite

122

Church of God of Prophecy

859

Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America

83

Church of the United Brethren in Christ

102

Churches of God, General Conference

129

Congregational Christian Churches, Additional (not part of any

national CCC body)

53

Congregational Holiness Church

120

Congregational Methodist Church

91

Conservative Congregational Christian Conference

188

Conservative Mennonite Conference

67

Conservative Yearly Meetings of Friends

36

Convention of Original Free Will Baptists

40

Coptic Orthodox Church

130

Cumberland Presbyterian Church

263

Eritrean Orthodox

28

Evangelical Congregational Church

31

Evangelical Friends Church International

153

Evangelical Lutheran Synod

94

Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches

16

Fellowship of Evangelical Churches

33

Friends General Conference

278

Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting,dually aligned meetings

There are 111 groups that participated in both studies, 125 groups that participated in 2010 but not 2000, 25 that participated in 2000 but not 2010, and 13 that participated in 2000 but are grouped differently in 2010.

Participants in both 2000 and 2010 studies include:

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America;
Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America
Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection
American Baptist Association
American Baptist Churches in the USA
American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese
Apostolic Christian Church of America, Inc.
Armenian Apostolic Church of America (Catholicosate of Cilicia)
Armenian Church of North America (Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin)
Assemblies of God
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Association of Free Lutheran Congregations
BahÃ¡'Ã­
Beachy Amish-Mennonite Churches
Brethren Church (Ashland, Ohio)
Brethren in Christ Church
Bruderhof Communities, Inc.
Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and
Australia
Calvary Chapel Fellowship Churches
Catholic Church
Christian and Missionary Alliance
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ
Christian Reformed Church in North America
Christian Union
Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)
Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)
Church of God General Conference
Church of God in Christ, Mennonite
Church of God of Prophecy
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Church of the Brethren
Church of the Nazarene
Churches of Christ
Churches of God, General Conference
Community of Christ
Congregational Christian Churches, Additional (not part of any
national CCC body)
Conservative Baptist Association of America
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference
Conservative Mennonite Conference
Convention of Original Free Will Baptists
Converge Worldwide/Baptist General Conference
Coptic Orthodox Church
Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Enterprise Baptists Association
Episcopal Church
Evangelical Covenant Church
Evangelical Free Church of America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches
Fellowship of Evangelical Churches
Foursquare Gospel, International Church of the
Free Methodist Church of North America
Free Will Baptists, National Association of
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Holy Orthodox Church in North America
Hutterian Brethren
International Churches of Christ
International Council of Community Churches
International Pentecostal Church of Christ
International Pentecostal Holiness Church
Jain
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Macedonian Orthodox Church: American Diocese
Malankara Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church in North America
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
Mennonite Church USA
Metropolitan Community Churches, Universal Fellowship of
Midwest Congregational Christian Fellowship
Missionary Church
Moravian Church in America-Alaska Province
Moravian Church in America-Northern Province
Moravian Church in America-Southern Province
Muslim Estimate
National Association of Congregational Christian Churches
North American Baptist Conference
Old Order River Brethren
Orthodox Church in America
Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA
Pentecostal Church of God
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Presbyterian Church in America
Primitive Baptists, Eastern District Association of
Primitive Methodist Church in the USA
Protestant Reformed Churches in America
Reformed Baptist Churches
Reformed Church in America
Reformed Church in the United States
Reformed Mennonite Church
Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in Americas
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
Salvation Army
Serbian Orthodox Church in North America
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Sikh
Southern Baptist Convention
Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch
Tao
U.S. Mennonite Brethren
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ
United Methodist Church
United Reformed Churches in North America
Vineyard Usa
Wesleyan Church
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Zoroastrian

Participants in the 2010 study but not the 2000 study include:

African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
Alliance of Baptists
Amana Church Society
Ambassadors Amish-Mennonite
American Association of Lutheran Churches
American Presbyterian Church
Amish Groups, undifferentiated
Anglican Church in North America
Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland, OR
Apostolic Lutheran Church of America
Armenian Evangelical Churches (Additional)
Assemblies of God International Fellowship
Association of Messianic Congregations
Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America
Berea Amish-Mennonite
Bible Fellowship Church
Bible Presbyterian Church (General Synod)
Canadian and American Reformed Churches
Central Yearly Meeting of Friends
Christian Brethren
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Church of Christ (Holiness), U.S.A.
Church of Christ, Scientist
Church of God (Seventh Day)
Church of God by Faith, Inc.
Church of God in Christ
Church of God of the Apostolic Faith, Inc.
Church of God, Mountain Assembly, Inc.
Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith, Inc.
Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America
Church of the Lutheran Confession
Church of the United Brethren in Christ
Churches of Christ in Christian Union
Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches
Congregational Holiness Church
Congregational Methodist Church
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Lutheran Association
Conservative Yearly Meetings of Friends
Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church
Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America
Elim Fellowship
Eritrean Orthodox
Ethiopian Orthodox
Evangelical Association of Reformed, and Congregational Christian Churches
Evangelical Church
Evangelical Congregational Church
Evangelical Friends Church International
Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Evangelical Methodist Church
Federation of Reformed Churches
Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
Free Presbyterian Church of North America
Free Reformed Church of North America
Friends General Conference
Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting, dually aligned meetings
Friends United Meeting
Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship
Fundamental Baptist Fellowship
Georgian Orthodox Parishes in the United States
Grace Brethren Churches, Fellowship of
Grace Gospel Fellowship
Heritage Reformed Churches
Hindu Post Renaissance
Hindu Renaissance
Hungarian Reformed Churches (Additional)
Independent Baptist Fellowship International
Independent Fundamental Churches of America
Independent Yearly Meetings of Friends
Indian-American Hindu Temple Associations
International Fellowship of Bible Churches
International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies
Jehovah's Witnesses
Korean Presbyterian Church Abroad
Korean Presbyterian Church in America
Korean-American Presbyterian Church
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
Mahayana Buddhism
Maranatha Amish-Mennonite
Mennonite Christian Fellowship
Midwest Beachy Amish-Mennonite
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
National Missionary Baptist Convention, Inc.
National Spiritualist Association of Churches
New Apostolic Church of North America, National Organization of the
New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches
Non-denominational Christian Churches
North American Lutheran Church
Open Bible Standard Churches, Inc.
(Original) Church of God
Orthodox Judaism
Pentecostal Fire-Baptized Holiness Church
Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church, Inc.
Pillar of Fire
Polish National Catholic Church
Presbyterian Reformed Church
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
Reconstructionist Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly
Reformed Presbyterian Church Hanover Presbytery
Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America
Schwenkfelder Church
Seventh Day Baptist General Conference, USA and Canada
Shinto
Southern Methodist Church
Swedenborgian Church
Tampico Amish-Mennonite
Theravada Buddhism
Traditional Hindu Temples
Unaffiliated Conservative Amish-Mennonite Church
Unaffiliated Friends Meetings
Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations
United Catholic Church, Inc.
United Holy Church of America, Inc.
United Pentecostal Church International
United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God
United Zion Church
Unity Churches, Association of
Unity of the Brethren
Vajrayana Buddhism
Vicariate for the Palestinian/Jordanian Orthodox Christian Communities

Buddhist congregation counts from 2000, which have been replaced by adherent groupings for Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism , and Vajrayana Buddhism.

Friends, which were reported as a single group in 2000 but are now reported as eight separate groups: Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, Conservative Yearly Meetings of Friends, Evangelical Friends Church International, Friends General Conference, Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting (dually
aligned meetings), Friends United Meeting, Independent Yearly Meetings of Friends, and Unaffiliated Friends Meetings.

Independent, Charismatic Churches and Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches, which are now reported in the new Non-denominational Christian Churches category.

Jewish Estimate from 2000, which has been replaced by separate enumerations for Conservative Judaism, Orthodox Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and Reform Judaism.

Old Order Amish Church and Amish, Other Groups, now reported with Amish Groups, undifferentiated.

Orthodox Church in America: Albanian Orthdox Archdiocese; Orthodox Church in America: Territorial Dioceses; Orthodox Church in America: Bulgarian Diocese; Orthodox Church in America: Romanian Orthodox Episcopate, are now reported as one single church body-Orthodox Church in America.
Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA (New Gracanica Metropolitanate), now reported with the Serbian Orthodox Church in America.

The 26 groups that participated in 2000 but not in 2010 reported a little more than 740,000 adherents in 2000, with most of those being in two groups, New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches and Other Fundamental Baptist Associations/Fellowships, and the Baptist Missionary Association of America.

The study identified, at county-level, nearly 320,000 congregations and more than 150 million adherents in 152 groups. It also identified more than 25,000 congregations of another 84 groupings for whom adherent data was unavailable. Thirty-seven of the 84 groups reporting only congregations have an estimated total membership of 4.3 million. (See individual entries in Appendix A.) Because the total number of religious congregations and adherents in the United States is not known, we do not know what percent of total religious adherents and congregations in the nation this represents.

National polls regularly report that at least 80 percent of Americans claim a religious preference. For instance, the 2010 General Social Survey (GSS) of the National Opinion Research Center indicates that 82 percent of respondents identify with a religious group.3 The figures in this book, however, reflect affiliation with a specific congregation rather than self-identification.

For instance, the GSS for 2010 indicates that 25.2 percent of the population claims to be Catholic, but that only 20.2 percent of the population claims both to be Catholic and to attend religious services at least once yearly, and that only 15.4 percent claims both to be Catholic and to attend religious services several times (or more frequently) each year. Put another way, the GSS indicates that there is a U.S. Catholic population of nearly 78 million, but a U.S. Catholic population that goes to church at least once yearly of 62 million, and one that goes to church several times (or more frequently) each year of nearly 48 million. Our count of Catholics associated with an individual church was nearly 59 million.

Similarly, many Protestants may identify with a specific tradition but not with a specific denomination, much less individual congregation. For example, the GSS for 2010 indicates that 3.8 percent of the population identifies as Lutheran, while 3.3 percent of the population identifies as Lutheran and reports attending religious services at least once yearly, and 1.5 percent of the population identifies with a specific Lutheran body (e.g., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and attends religious services at least once yearly. Put another way, the GSS indicates that there is a Lutheran population of 12 million, a Lutheran population that attends church at least once annually of 10 million, and a population that is able to identify with a specific Lutheran body and attends religious services at least once yearly of 5 million. Our count of Lutherans associated with a specific religious body is more than 7 million.

First, there are independent and community churches, religious movements, and associations whose memberships are not reported to the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches or other compilers. As a result, the total membership of these groups is unknown, and there is no way to determine what proportion of their membership has been included in this study. Nevertheless, for this study, Scott Thumma of Hartford Theological Seminary compiled statistics for 35,496 independent Christian congregations with 12,241,329 adherents not known to be affiliated with any other Christian body. See Appendix J for further details.

Second, Jonathan Ament and Steven M. Cohen at Synagogue 3000 provided congregational-level counts for Jewish synagogues, members, adherents, and attendance. These differ from counts provided in 1990 and 2000 in that they are of synagogues affiliated with a particular tradition and of persons affiliated with a particular synagogue. As such, they are not comparable to the Jewish Estimate counts provided in 1990 and 2000 versions of this work. See Appendix H for more details.

Third, we made several major efforts to enlist the participation of historically African American denominations. Using mailing lists and on-line church location systems, we made some estimates for the eight largest African American denominations. See Appendix C for more details and explanations of likely undercounts.

Fourth, we divide twenty-three Orthodox Christian church bodies into two families, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, accounting for 1,056,535 adherents total. Alexei Krindatch of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, collected the data on Orthodox Christian groups. Adherent counts for these groups were obtained from the local Orthodox parishes (congregations).

Finally, several other groups received special attention for this study. Further details on Buddhist groupings are in Appendix E, and those on Hindu groupings are in Appendix G. Joseph F. Donnermeyer of Ohio State University provided the most extensive count of Amish groups and adherents ever presented in this series; Cory Anderson of Newcomerstown, Ohio, provided the same for Amish-Mennonite groups; details on their methods are in Appendix D. Appendix F presents details of our gathering of data for Friends groupings, collected by Richard H. Taylor. Appendix I presents further details of Muslim data gathering by Ihsan Bagby. Appendix K provides details of our use of on-line listings to gather information on congregations for some bodies.

Non-participating Groups: The study made efforts to contact and invite at least 89 other religious groups, found either in the Yearbook or by referrals from interested individuals. Not all of the groups had size information in the Yearbook, but thirty-one of them combined reported just over 6,000 churches and 1.6 million members.

There are four non-participating religious bodies that reported more than 100,000 members to the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches:
20104:

Baptist Missionary Association of America
Christian Congregation, Inc.
Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches and Ministers International
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc.

These four groups reported a combined membership of 1.5 million in the Yearbook.

Defining Membership: Our most critical problem is defining membership. Because there is no generally acceptable definition of membership applicable across bodies, we left the designation of members to the religious bodies themselves. Many comment on their definition in Appendix A. In an effort to achieve comparability of data, we established two major categories for individuals affiliated with a religious body:

MEMBERS: all individuals with full membership status; and

TOTAL ADHERENTS: all members, including full members, their children and the estimated number of other participants who are not considered members; for example, the baptized,those not confirmed,those not eligible for communion,those regularly attending services, and the like.

Of the 236 reporting groups, 49 reported members and adherents; 37 reported adherents only; 63 reported members only; four suggested a method for estimating adherents without reporting members; and 83 reported only congregation locations. Of the 63 that reported members only, 4 suggested their own adherent estimating processes, which we used to calculate adherents for them. We estimated total adherents for the 59 remaining groups reporting members only, using a formula we discuss below.

Estimating Total Adherents: We use the total adherent figure to compute the population percentage for each group. For those 59 groups that reported members but did not report adherents nor suggest a method for computing them, we estimated total adherents for each county by dividing membership by the population at least 14 years of age then applying this percentage to the Census 2010 100-percent count for the county. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention reported 204,332 full members in Dallas County, Texas. This represents 11.03% of the 14-and-over population of Dallas County. Applying the same percentage to the entire population yields a total adherent count of 261,216. An asterisk at the right end of the line in the Abbreviations Table indicates that total adherents were estimated through this procedure.

We asked the 49 groups for whom we estimated total adherents in this way to comment on the procedure. Their comments are in Appendix A.

Locating Members by County: Membership statistics are generally reported for the county in which the congregation itself is located, rather than for the county in which the member resides. We assume the county of residence will correspond to the county of the congregation in most cases, although modern mobility patterns suggest caution in accepting this assumption in every case. Especially in large urban areas, combining counties into standard metropolitan areas might be wiser when citing membership proportions.

Membership or Adherents without Congregations: In nearly all cases, members and adherents were reported for congregations. Exceptions include American Baptist Association (1 county); Amish Groups, undifferentiated (40); Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (1); BahÃ¡Ã­ (2,064); Church of the Brethren (3); Church of the Nazarene (1); Conservative Judaism (9); International Churches of Christ (26); Orthodox Judaism (1); Reconstructionist Judaism (2); Reform Judaism (7); and Zoroastrian (266). A few groups count as members some individuals whose congregations have not met or no longer meet the criteria for official recognition as congregations. The International Churches of Christ have off-campus ministry sites in many major metropolitan areas, with adherents
estimated for those off-site locations. For the BahÃ¡Ã­ and Zoroastrian groups, there are independent records for the location of adherents. More than 96 percent of adherent-without-congregation situations are accounted for by just the BahÃ¡Ã­ and the Zoroastrians.

Average Attendance: Each group that provided average attendance figures was asked to define these. Their explanations are in Appendix A.

County Listings: The 2010 U.S. Religion Census: Religious Congregations & Membership Study uses the same 3,143 counties or county-equivalents as the 2010 U.S. Census. These include census areas in Alaska, the District of Columbia, civil parishes in Louisiana, and independent cities, most prevalent in Virginia. These areas can change over time; readers wishing to understand how these have changed in the course of this series may wish to consult the Census Bureau listing of Substantial Changes to Counties and County-Equivalent Entities since 1970 at http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/ctychng.html.

Reporting Date: We sought statistics comparable to the April 1, 2010, U.S. Census. Accordingly, we asked participants to provide data for their reporting year ending within calendar year 2010.

Accuracy of Reporting Procedures: Most large Protestant denominations maintain national offices that receive statistical reports from their individual congregations; we used these reports to provide county membership figures for this study. Many smaller groups, as well as those in which local
congregations have a great deal of autonomy, only request and do not require such reports. This means that data for several groups is not as complete and current as might be desired.

We asked groups furnishing data to comment on the accuracy of their reporting procedures and to furnish copies of the forms they used to collect the data. Those forms that were received are in the data collection office at the Church of the Nazarene Global Ministry Center. We reproduce comments on accuracy in Appendix A.

Dual Affiliation: We also asked each group, Do any local congregations of your denomination maintain affiliation with another denomination as well? Comments we received on dual affiliation are in Appendix A.

Reasons for the discrepancy will differ from county to county, but the most plausible would include U.S. Census undercount, church membership overcount, and county of residence differing from county of membership. This is especially likely in Virginia, where many cities have been separated from their adjoining counties.

This report consists of four tables, thirty-two pages of maps and charts, and a fold-out map insert. In all the tables, we abbreviate group names. We list abbreviations on the pages immediately preceding Table 1.

Table 1, Religious Congregations by Group for the United States: 2010,presents for each group the number of congregations; the number of communicant, confirmed, or full members; the average attendance (if any) reported by the group; and the total adherents the group has throughout the entire United States. It also indicates what percent of the U.S. population and what percent of the total reported adherents each group comprises. Population figures used for these calculations are from the 2010 U.S. Census.

Table 2, Religious Congregations by State and Group: 2010, presents group totals for each state (and the District of Columbia): the total of congregations; communicant, confirmed, or full members; average attendance; and adherents. Also shown are the percent of state population and of total state adherents that each group has. States are arranged alphabetically.

Table 3, Religious Congregations by County and Group: 2010, provides detailed data on which the totals in Tables 1, 2, and 4 are based. It presents for each county or county equivalent the numbers of congregations; communicant, confirmed, or full members; average attendance; and adherents; as well as the percent of the county population and of total county adherents that each group has.

Table 4, Religious Congregations by Metropolitan Status and Group: 2010, presents for each group the proportion of its adherents in differentsized metropolitan areas. Also shown is the proportion of congregations within each group located outside metropolitan areas. For comparison, the proportion of the total U.S. population in each metropolitan category is shown on the first line of the table; and the proportion of total adherents within each category is shown on the second line.

Sizes are based on the four size categories of metropolitan areas, with additional categories for Micropolitan counties and for Non-metropolitan counties included for comparison. The metropolitan and micropolitan definitions are those of the Office of Management and the Budget as of April 1, 2010, with population figures from the 2010 census. Size categories for metropolitan areas were At least 5,000,000 people,Between 1,000,000 and 4,999,999 people,Between 250,000 and 999,999 people, and Metros with fewer than 250,000 people.

Maps Included in the Book: The color map section begins with 20 groups reporting at least one million adherents or groups reporting adherents with congregations present in at least 50% of U.S. counties. These maps show the proportion of the population of each county that is claimed by the group. The same scale is used on each map to make comparisons easier. Similarly, the next three maps show the proportion of each counties population claimed by the Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox family groups.

The next maps show the largest group in each county or equivalent. The first of these shows the participating Eastern Religion group with the largest number of adherents. The second shows the largest participating group of any religious background. The third shows the largest participating Protestant group.

The Religious Diversity Map shows the Simpson Diversity Index for each county based upon the relative size of six religious groups: Catholic, Mormon, Protestant, Other Christian (primarily Orthodox), Muslim, Jewish, and Eastern Religions. The greater the index number, the more likely it is that two randomly selected individuals in that county belong to different religious groups.

The next four pages display some of the other maps and charts available at USReligionCensus.org for the various groups participating in the study. The final map shows the population penetration of the total religious adherents in each county equivalent.

Wall Map: Accompanying this report is a color map, 25 x 38, entitled Major Religious Families of the United States: 2010. A color code on this map indicates, for each county, the participating group that predominates.

Based primarily upon family groupings found in the Yearbook and classifications in previous years, the various Anglican/Episcopal, Baptist, Brethren, Buddhist, Christian, Churches of God, Congregational, Friends, Hindu, Jewish, Latter-day Saints, Lutheran, Mennonite, Messianic Jewish, Methodist, Moravian, Old Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, and Reformed bodies were grouped into families.

Other groups, such as the Catholics, Muslims, and United Church of Christ were not grouped into families but were treated as separate units.

In the table listings, religious bodies are grouped by these families, indicated by ANG/EPIS, BAPT, BRETH, etc., preceding the group abbreviation.

The number of counties in which the above-mentioned families or units predominate is as follows:

Baptist

1,249

Catholic

1,117

Lutheran

263

Methodist

248

Latter-day Saints

107

Christian

57

Non-denominational Christian Churches

46

Pentecostal

15

Mennonite

12

Eastern Orthodox

7

Reformed

7

United Church of Christ

3

Anglican/Episcopal

2

Brethren

2

Presbyterian

2

Christian and Missionary Alliance

1

tr>

Church of the Nazarene

1

Congregational Christian

1

Friends

1

Muslim

1

Seventh-day Adventist

1

A solid color on the map or upper-case coding indicates that a group has 50 percent of more of the total adherents in that county, as reported in the present study. When no group has 50 percent, striped shading or lowercase coding indicates the largest group with 25 to 49 percent of adherents in a county. The 193 counties where no group has 25 percent of adherents are left blank. The percentages on which the map is based can be found in Table 3, column 7 of this report.

The Church of the Nazarene Global Ministry Center in Lenexa, Kansas, carried out the actual data collection. Richard Houseal, Research Services Manager, oversaw the data collection.

In 2009, we sent an invitation to participate in the study to every U.S. religious body listed in the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.5We also sent additional invitations to contacts suggested by the Advisory Committee and by members of the ASARB. Following the initial written invitation, we sent two additional general mailings. Those not responding to these received still additional special letters, personal contacts, e-mails, and phone calls. Altogether, we invited 296 groups to participate; of which 236 are included in the study, seven groups intended to participate but did not, four declined to participate, and 49 did not respond in any way.

Groups agreeing to participate were asked to appoint a contact person. We sent two forms to the contact person: instructions for reporting data; and a transmittal sheet to be signed and sent with the data collected. When asked, we provided a state-county form for listing the statistics. Contact persons could provide the data electronically, in printout, or using the state-county listing provided by the Church of the Nazarene Research Services staff.

The process put the major burden of work on the offices of the various religious groups, since they were asked to compile data by county for all their congregations. In some cases, however, groups were able to furnish information only in the form of yearbooks or other sources. Transferring yearbook information into county data then became the responsibility of the Church of the Nazarene Research Services staff. In a few cases, the groups instructed the staff to estimate congregational membership according to some formula, and approved the result. In all instances, the contact person was asked to review the statistics.

The Research Services staff employed standard procedures for checking the accuracy of data submitted. This included checking state and national totals against county data and adjusting discrepancies (reviewing adjustments with the contact person) and, when appropriate, applying the estimating procedure for adherents. We prepared several items for review by the contact person. These included a spreadsheet of the data that compared 2000 figures to 2010 figures for each county and state, as well as a series of maps comparing 2000 and 2010 presence by county, and, for 2010, location of congregations, ratio of adherents to each countys population, and number of adherents by county. Only after all problems raised by both the staff and the contact person were resolved were the statistics considered ready for publication.

The final step was to run a series of computer edit tests to check for errors. Finding incorrect county codes and locating records with no data were the most common corrections at that step. After this, the Church of the Nazarene Research Services staff produced the printouts of tables and maps for this document.